Red Sox fandom in the post-"curse" era

The Pink Hat contingent of Red Sox Nation hasn’t extended its tentacles everywhere. Here in West Texas, I just enjoyed a World Series of being the only the only Sox fan at the local sports bar. Everyone else was either on the Rockies bandwagon or watching football on one of the other screens.

Yeah, â€œ(insert team name) Nationâ€ is obnoxious. I hate it as much as you perhaps do. Anywayâ€¦

I heard one of the locals complain tonight that the â€œRed Sox are the new Yankees.â€ Well, in terms of spending, sure. But consider that since WWI, the Red Sox have two World Series titles. The Yankees, 26. let’s not get too fucking carried away with the â€œSox are the new Yanksâ€ bit. Yes, I understand the point about the economics of it all, but the Yankees dominated North American sports for the better part of a century. The Red Sox, no. Two titles in four years does not the â€œnew Yankeesâ€ make.

However, I’d like to address a different pointâ€¦a point about the Pink Hat crew. Yeah, I can understand why longtime Sox fans would be pissed about the bandwagon and how they never suffered through Tony Conigliaro’s beaning, etc.

When I was a freshman at a metro Boston university in ’86, I recall some of my peers who didn’t want me to be a Sox fan. I was from Texas and hadn’t suffered through Bucky Fucking Dent. And even though these guys were classmates of mine and weren’t alive during the Impossible Dream season and were barely cognizant during the ’75 Series, they acted like they owned those disappointments, too. So even though I adopted the Sox as my own and suffered with the lifers when Buckner, Schiraldi, et al., shit the bed, I recall some who felt I didn’t have a â€œrightâ€ to cheer for the Olde Towne Team. It was like I’d strolled into Southie and claimed to be a local just because my ancestry’s mostly Irish.

Anyway, twenty or so years later, old-time Sox fans are disgusted with the 2004-and-after bandwagon. Like I say, on one hand, I can understand their perspective. Bandwagon-ism, in general, is kind of lame. But here’s the deal, old-school Swox fans: Successful teams have bandwagon fans.

Ever even pondered that dynamic before? For decades now, the Yankees, Dallas Cowboys, Pittsburgh Steelers and Oakland Raiders have had fans who couldn’t find the team’s city on a map or even tell you basic facts about the team’s history. Same goes for the LA Lakers and your own Boston Celtics. There are plenty of fair-weather baseball fans with Yankees caps who’ve never heard of Thurman Munson and couldn’t tell you Mickey Mantle’s uniform number. Do you hear Yankee fans bitching about them?
Hell, even the Chicago Cubs, who’ve won nothing since the Edwardian era, have a shitload of casual fans across the country, thanks to WGN, Wrigley Field and other cultural factors. Do you hear Cub fans whining about all their fans across the country who don’t know Ron Santo from Ron Wood and who don’t gnash their teeth at the mention of Lou Brock? No, you don’t. In characteristic Midwestern, hail-fellow-well-met fashion, Cub fans welcome anyone who wants to join the party.

Lifelong Red Sox fans, you need to understand that your team has gone from a freaky regional phenomenon with a â€œcursedâ€ history to one of the higher-profile franchises in North American sports. That means you’re going to have bandwagon fans- in Boston, New England and beyond. In any endeavor, success breeds notoriety.

Quit being such a bunch of whiny New England bitches and DEAL WITH IT. Look, I love New England, I love Boston and I love the Sox. My years up there will always rank among the best times of my life, and those times at Fenway will always be on the top shelf of that cabinet of memories. But damn, people. It's ok if someone from Salt Lake City or Tuscaloosa decides that they want to be a Sox fan. Just because they didn't grow up jacking off to Bernie Carbo's baseball card doesn't mean they should be denied the right. Fucking take a break from your chronic New England paranoia and negativity and ENJOY the fact that the Sox are successful. Allow them to be beloved. It’s a nice change, isn’t it?

Thanks, fellas. I think this matter applies to any sad-sack teams who become successful and encounter the ineviatble change in their fan base. To take sportschick's Colts into account, there are lots of bandwagon Colts fans these days. But the Colts fan base isn't whining at high volume about the newcomers like the Sox fan base is. The difference is worth examining.

I guess you are saying bandwagon fans are ok? Would you be upset if they jumped off, broke their ankles, and joined the ________'s bandwagon next year when they win a title? I have no problem with fans who have been fans longer than the last year that they won a championship. Sick of all the Dallas Cowboy fans who suddenly became fans after their little spree in the early 90s and the Lakers fans in the 2000s.